Governor endorses Reps. Landtroop, Perry

AUSTIN – In his re-election bid, Plainview’s state Rep. Jim Landtroop has long touted his conservative credentials and numerous endorsements from top state officials such as Gov. Rick Perry and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, as well of influential conservative groups.

For instance, earlier this month Perry flew to Pampa to endorse the freshman lawmaker, praising him for being “a committed conservative leader with a proven record.”

Landtroop, who is facing three challengers in Tuesday’s Republican primary in the drastically redrawn Texas House District 88, made the most of an economic summit his campaign organized.

Joined by Michael Quinn Sullivan of Empower Texans, one of the leading conservative activists in Austin, who also has endorsed him, Landtroop said he welcomed Perry’s support.

“It is truly humbling to have Gov. Perry not only endorse my candidacy, but also join me in Pampa for the economic summit,” Landtroop said.

For Mark Jones of Houston-based Rice University, who ranks all Texas legislators from most conservative to most liberal based on their voting records, the governor’s endorsement of Landtroop – the fourth most conservative in last year’s ranking – is more than political backing.

“Perry is trying to stay relevant,” Jones said in reference to Perry’s failed presidential run.

For instance, after endorsing Landtroop, the governor flew to Lubbock for a pat on the back to Rep. Charles Perry (no relation), who is being challenged by former Rep. Delwin Jones, whom Rep. Perry unseated two years ago. The governor has also endorsed other Republican incumbents facing challengers on Tuesday.

However, it is Sullivan’s endorsements of Landtroop, Charles Perry and about 50 other Republican incumbents, challengers and candidates for open legislative seats which have caught the eye of Austin watchers.

Since Sullivan is considered one of the most polarizing figures in Austin, those endorsements signal another internal Republican strife brewing in the Texas Legislature, especially in the House of Representatives where the party currently has a 102-48 supermajority.

It is a battle between what Mark Jones calls “the establishment Republicans led by House Speaker Joe Straus and “the movement Republicans,” mostly tea-party backed legislators such as Landtroop and Charles Perry.

Some of the challengers Sullivan has endorsed hope to unseat Straus and three of his top lieutenants.

Bill Miller, a veteran political consultant who has advised the likes of former House Speaker Tom Craddick, also sees as a GOP power struggle brewing, just as it happened two years ago.

“I do think this is a battle for the soul of the Republican Party going on,” said Miller who, like Mark Jones, identifies the establishment conservatives as those backing Straus and the movement conservatives as those who opposed the speaker’s re-election or have tea-party backing.

Sullivan has long opposed Straus and has been linked to efforts to oust the San Antonian. The newsletter Quorum Report reported Friday that Empower Texans and Midland oilman Tim Dunn, the group’s chief financial backer, spent $120,000 on behalf of Matt Beebe of San Antonio, a political newcomer challenging Straus in Tuesday’s primary.

Other current and former Republican legislators Sullivan has harshly criticized, or, even targeted for defeat, include Sen. Kel Seliger of Amarillo and former Rep. Delwin Jones.

The balance of power battle brewing in the Republican ranks of the Legislature has not been lost on former Canadian school board president Ken King and on former Rep. Gary Walker, who are challenging Landtroop.

For Walker – who served in the Texas House from 1995 to 2003 but lost to Jones in the 2002 primary when both were paired in the redistricting process of a decade ago – the ideological battles have gotten out of hand.

“I am a conservative but I am not a right-wing Republican and the reason I am not is because there are those in the far right and the far left who never get anything done because they don’t want to compromise,” Walker said. “This is pretty much what is happening in Washington D.C. and I don’t to want to see that in Austin.”

House Republicans who support Straus but have avoided being targeted by Sullivan and other conservative activists, say they don’t like what they see either.

“Everybody is trying to out-conservative the other guy and I think it’s ridiculous,” said one who, like others interviewed for this story, spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. “You’ve got some factions fixed in creating an issue when there is not one.”

However, Sullivan dismisses such talk.

“I am not a member of the Legislature and so could not comment on whether or not there are internal battles brewing within the ranks of the Legislature,” Sullivan said in an email.

“Our organization focuses on a core set of principles and ideas, which we broadly discuss and advocate,” he explained. “The most important of those principles is greater involvement in policy-making decisions by the people.

“We need more Texans engaged in the process, not fewer; we need more eyes on the problems and challenges,” Sullivan said.

Landtroop and Perry have long dismissed such talk, too. Since taking office each has said he was elected to represent the best interests of his district and of West Texas, not to vote the party line or to please any particular interest group.

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